Colorado Rockies left fielder Carlos Gonzalez dives for and misses a ball at Coors Field. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

BOSTON — Carlos Gonzalez knows defense. He’s so good he uses strategy in the outfield, conjuring images of former Rockies’ great Larry Walker. Walker did everything well defensively, but perhaps his best move was when he would trick runners from taking an extra base. Walker would pretend to camp under a fly ball with a runner at first base. Then at the last minute, he would turn as it ricocheted off the wall. Duped, the runner would only make it to second base.

Gonzalez does something similar, a tactic he revisited during Wednesday’s conference call following his third Rawlings Gold Glove honor.

Everyone knows CarGo has one of the league’s best arms. His erasing of the Cubs’ Carlos Pena in spring training a few years ago prompted CarGo to tell me, “Doesn’t he have HD-TV?”

To try and get more outs with his arm, CarGo has adopted a sneaky strategy.

“The first and third base coaches know who’s out there and who has the strongest arms. I don’t have as many opportunities anymore,” Gonzalez said. “So I play a little game with them. I let the ball get deeper and don’t charge the ball too hard and try to get them to run on me.”

Gonzalez spent a bulk of the conference call praising teammate Nolan Arenado. Arenado become the second rookie third baseman to win a gold glove, and just the 10th rookie overall. The last was Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2001.

“I had a lot of favorite plays from (Arenado). One time, one I really enjoyed, Nolan was playing in with the pitcher hitting. And there was (pop-up) that he made an unbelievable catch on,” Gonzalez said.

Arenado, 22, said he started thinking in August he had a realistic shot at the gold glove. He didn’t get called up until April 28, so he faced long odds. He said he will leave the trophy at his parents’ house “as a thank-you for all my family has done for me.”

Arenado is pleased to be recognized as a strong defender, and knows that the expectation is to win several more gold gloves.

“I don’t worry about that. My focus is on the team winning. I want to win,” Arenado said.